For many decades the word "entanglement" has been firmly attached to the world of quantum mechanics, as is the phrase "Bell violation". Here we introduce Shimony-Wolf fields, entirely classical non-deterministic states, as a basis for entanglement and Bell analyses. Such fields are well known in coherence optics and are open to test. We present experimental results showing that Shimony-Wolf states exhibit strong classical Bell violation, in effect opening a way of examining a new sector of the boundary between quantum and classical physics.
For many decades the word "entanglement" has been firmly attached to the world of quantum mechanics, as is the phrase "Bell violation". Here we introduce Shimony-Wolf fields, entirely classical non-deterministic states, as a basis for entanglement and Bell analyses. Such fields are well known in coherence optics and are open to test. We present experimental results showing that Shimony-Wolf states exhibit strong classical Bell violation, in effect opening a way of examining a new sector of the boundary between quantum and classical physics.
For many decades the word "entanglement" has been firmly attached to the world of quantum mechanics. So is the phrase "Bell violation". Here we show, without contradicting quantum mechanics, that classical non-deterministic fields also provide a natural basis for entanglement and Bell analyses. Surprisingly, such fields are not eliminated by the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell violation test as viable alternatives to quantum theory. An experimental setup for verification is proposed.
The growing recognition that entanglement is not exclusively a quantum property, and does not even originate with Schrödinger's famous remark about it [Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 31, 555 (1935)], prompts examination of its role in marking the quantum-classical boundary. We have done this by subjecting correlations of classical optical fields to new Bell-analysis experiments, and report here values of the Bell parameter greater than B=2.54. This is many standard deviations outside the limit B=2 established by the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality [Phys. Rev. Lett. 23, 880 (1969)], in agreement with our theoretical classical prediction, and not far from the Tsirelson limit B=2.828.... These results cast a new light on the standard quantum-classical boundary description, and suggest a reinterpretation of it.
It is one of the most remarkable features of quantum physics that measurements on spatially separated systems cannot always be described by a locally causal theory. In such a theory, the outcomes of local measurements are determined in advance solely by some unknown (or hidden) variables and the choice of local measurements. Correlations that are allowed within the framework of a locally causal theory are termed classical. Typically, the fact that quantum mechanics does not always result in classical correlations is revealed by the violation of Bell inequalities, which are constraints that have to be satisfied by any classical correlations. It has been known for a long time that entanglement is necessary to demonstrate nonclassical correlations, and hence a Bell inequality violation. However, since some entangled quantum states are known to admit explicit locally causal models, the exact role of entanglement in Bell inequality violation has remained obscure. This thesis provides both a comprehensive review on these issues as well as a report on new discoveries made to clarify the relationship between entanglement and Bell inequality violation. In particular, within the framework of a standard Bell experiment, i.e., a Bell inequality test that is directly performed on a single copy of a quantum state r, we have derived two algorithms to determine, respectively, a lower bound and an upper bound on the strength of correlations that r can offer for any given Bell inequality. Both of these algorithms make use convex optimization techniques in the form of a semidefinite program. By examples, we show that these algorithms can often be used in tandem, in conjunction with convexity arguments, to determine if a quantum state can offer nonclassical correlations and hence violates a given Bell inequality. On the other hand, since a standard Bell experiment typically involves measurements over many copies of the quantum systems, we have also investigated the possibility of enhancing the strength of nonclassical correlation by, instead, performing collective measurements on multiple copies of the quantum systems. Our findings show that even without postselection, such joint measurements may also lead to stronger nonclassical correlations, and hence a better Bell inequality violation. Meanwhile, previous studies have indicated that entangled state admitting locally causal models may still lead to observable nonclassical correlations if, prior to a standard Bell experiment, the state is subjected to some appropriate local preprocessing. This phenomenon of hidden nonlocality was discovered more than a decade ago, but to date, it is still not known if all entangled states can demonstrate nonclassical correlations through these more sophisticated Bell experiments. A key result in this thesis then consists of showing that for all bipartite entangled states, observable nonclassical correlations, in the form of a Bell-CHSH inequality violation, can indeed be derived if we allow both local preprocessing and the usage of shared ancillary state which by itself does not violate the Bell-CHSH inequality. This establishes a kind of equivalence between bipartite entanglement and states that cannot be simulated by classical correlations. In summary, for a standard Bell experiment where no local preprocessing on a quantum state r is allowed, we have provided two algorithms that can be used in tandem to determine if r can be simulated by a locally causal theory, whereas in the scenario where local preprocessing is allowed, we have demonstrated that bipartite entangled states are precisely those which cannot always be simulated classically.
The classical theory of polarisation coherence is briefly summarised and then extended. The extension is motivated by the recognition that the traditional theory of two-point coherence provides only what we identify as ‘diagonal’ correlation functions and their associated two-point coherence matrices. It is pointed out that a wider focus is possible when taking account of the three-sector vector space underlying all two-point coherences in classical optics. This reveals the possibility of observing a new type of ‘off-diagonal’ correlations that arise when the correlation functions under investigation are associated with points in two distinct vector spaces, pairs of points that are not analogous to the pairs of space points or time points that underlie traditional measures of spatial and temporal coherence. Quantum theory has experience with correlations engaging such ‘cross-sector’ coherences, for example in tests of Bell inequalities, and the quantum formulations are shown to be easily adopted by classical theory without incorporating quantum features in the optical signals. The familiar theory of classical coherence that is associated with the pioneering work of Emil Wolf is extended in conformance with three criteria advanced by Abner Shimony to obtain formulas for correlation functions and for the Bell measure S of coherence. Values of S greater than the standard upper limit S=2 are predicted for certain classical Shimony–Wolf fields, indicating strong cross-sector coherence, but only when standard measures of coherence such as degree of polarisation P are minimised. Experimental results confirming the predictions for cross-sector coherence are exhibited.
In this work we look for novel classes of Bell's inequalities and methods to produce them. We also find their quantum violations including, if possible, the maximum one. The Jordan bases method that we explain in Chapter 2 is about using a pair of certain type of orthonormal bases whose spans are subspaces related to measurement outcomes of incompatible quantities on the same physical system. Jordan vectors are the briefest way of expressing the relative orientation of any two subspaces. This feature helps us to reduce the dimensionality of the parameter space on which we do searches for optimization. The work is published in [24]. In Chapter 3, we attempt to find a connection between group theory and Bell's theorem. We devise a way of generating terms of a Bell's inequality that are related to elements of an algebraic group. The same group generates both the terms of the Bell's inequality and the observables that are used to calculate the quantum value of the Bell expression. Our results are published in [25][26]. In brief, Bell's theorem is the main tool of a research program that was started by Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen [19] and Bohr [8] in the early days of quantum mechanics in their discussions about the core nature of physical systems. These debates were about a novel type of physical states called superposition states, which are introduced by quantum mechanics and manifested in the apparent inevitable randomness in measurement outcomes of identically prepared systems. Bell's huge contribution was to find a means of quantifying the problem and hence of opening the way to experimental verification by rephrasing the questions as limits on certain combinations of correlations between measurement results of spatially separate systems [7]. Thanks to Bell, the fundamental questions related to the nature of quantum mechanical systems became quantifiable [6]. According to Bell's theorem, some correlations between quantum entangled systems that involve incompatible quantities are not allowed by classical mechanics, a feature that is called as "quantum nonlocality". An experimental observation of those correlations, in other words, a violation of the limits imposed by classical physics, implies the correctness of quantum description and invalidates the classical, local realistic models. The first Bell experiments were proposed by Clauser, Horne, Shimony, and Holt, who invented the most famous Bell's inequality [13]. Later, the Aspect experiments were satisfactory enough for the physics community to be conclusive about the validation of quantum mechanics [1][3][4][2]. Ekert's work on applications of quantum nonlocality to communication resulted in the new field of quantum communication and cryptography, and turned the research program into a practical one [20]. Pitowsky showed a method to find all expressions of limitations due to local realism, all Bell's inequalities, for a given physical scenario. He also proved that the problem is, unfortunately, NP-complete and hence as the scenarios get more complex, they also become computationally intractable [33][34]. Therefore, different methods for the solution of special cases of the problem are necessary. Inequalities found for those special cases can be called classes of Bell's inequalities. For example, Werner and Wolf [41] and Collins, Gisin, Linden, Massar, and Popescu [16] found classes that cover a wide range of scenarios. Our work is a similar kind of effort to produce and study new types of Bell's inequalities.